Trouble losing weight!

Hi. I am 27,male, 6'0" and 195#. I have probably 10-20lbs to lose, mostly in my gut and chest. I am constantly watching what I eat and have a moderately active lifestyle and cannot lose weight - in fact, I tend to gain if anything.

As for diet, I eat well below my daily fat allowance, and generally below my daily calorie allowance. I am vegetarian but do eat a lot of cheese. I don't drink soda, but have 1-2 beers once or twice a week. I tend to snack on carbs (granola, crackers w/hummus, etc.), though I have been switching to nuts lately. I eat very little processed/prepared foods.

As for exercise, in the warm months, I bike 8 miles to work over hilly terrain(round-trip), plus a 20-minute walk at lunch, plus hiking and kayaking a few times a week on the side. In the winter, I go to the gym and do 30mins of intense aerobic 3 days a week and weight bearing exercise (light weight, many reps) & calistenics 2 days a week.

No matter what I do, I cannot lose weight! I have noticed that I may have lost about 1/2" from my waist lately and my muscles are definitely firmer, but I don't feel like I am noticing any real change. I have been eating like this for several years and exercising on this schedule for just about a full year. Why can't I lose any weight? Is there any way to 'boost' my metabolism? Can this be related to hormone imbalance? Any suggestions at all? Thanks!

You need to back off on the cardio and increase your weight training. Get rid of the high rep stuff. Building muscle is the ultimate antidote for body fat. Split your muscle groups up in 5 days. Train each muscle only once a week with heavy weight and high intensity. 4-6 reps balls out. Keep your workout short. 30-40 minutes is ideal, but definitley be done in under an hour. For now just do cardio 3 times a week with high intensity for about 20 minutes. It will work!

Have you been on many medications such as antibiotics in the past? Also you say you drink beer once or twice weekly, how long have you been doing this? The reason i am asking these questions is because both drugs and alcohol can reduce your liver's capability to function at its optimum. The liver is the main organ of fat metabolism, and if your liver is not functioning properly you are not metabolising your fats properly which means you will be storing fat. A sign of poor liver function is fat around the gut. I would highly suggest you see a naturopath who will be able to help you greatly because i know it is very difficult to lose fat around your gut area compared to other places and since this is the main place you want to lose weight u need to treat the cause of the problem as to why you are gaining weight around your middle.

With your diet you need to really increase your protein intake some examples are; salmon, tuna, nuts and seeds (sunflower and pumpkin) lentils, lean chicken. And really decrease your intake of carbohydrates. If you are having carbs stay away from highly refined carbohydrates (white bread, white rice and pasta) since these carbs are just sugar to your body. Instead go for brown rice, multi grain bread etc. Carbs are your bodies first energy source, and if you are eating too many carbohydrates your body will use the carbs that it needs and then store the excess as fat. In a high protein low carbohydrate diet, your body will not have the chance to use the carbs that you are intaking from your diet since there will barely be any and it will start breaking down the stored fat into glucose (sugar) which is your bodies first energy source and you will begin to lose weight.

Max's suggestion with resistance weight training is fantastic you need to do more weight training since muscle burns fat. Stick with cardio but you must include weight training. It will also give you more muscle definition.